Dynasty Warriors

真  三国无双

China/Hong Kong, 2021, colour, 2.35:1, 117 mins.

Director: Zhou Xianyang 周显扬 [Roy Chow].

Rating: 5/10.

The scenery is often more interesting than the characters in this lumpy action drama, based on the videogame.

STORY

China, Eastern Han dynasty, AD 184. The Han dynasty is in its dying days and the imperial court has been forced to cede power to local warlords. In a big battle near Guangzong against the rebel Yellow Turbans, led by Zhang Jiao (Jiang Haowen), Han general Dong Zhuo (Lin Xue) is saved by three independent warriors who support the dynasty – Liu Bei (Yang Youning), Guan Yu (Han Geng) and Zhang Fei (Zhang Jiansheng). However, they get no thanks from Dong Zhuo, so they decide to go elsewhere. Later, at the Han court in the capital Luoyang, Dong Zhuo, with his army of 200,000 men, holds the young Han prince Liu Bian (Cui Can) hostage and puts another young prince, Liu Xie (Wang Yikun), on the throne instead. The courtiers and ministers all privately bemoan the way Dong Zhuo has usurped power but palace guard Cao Cao (Wang Kai) mocks them for their spinelessness. Meanwhile, in Xi county, Liu Bei, who is county sheriff and claims to be descended from nobility, is investigated by a corrupt government official, causing the locals to protest. In the ensuing riot, Liu Bei – who refuses to serve at the Han court while Dong Zhuo holds Liu Bian hostage – leaves, along with his comrades Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, for Hero Peak to join the anti-Dong Zhuo alliance of 18 warlords. When almost there, they get lost in a forest and end up in the magical Sword Castle, which forges weapons for great warriors. The Lady of the Sword Castle (Liu Jialing) tells them that Dong Zhuo has hired the powerful warrior Lv Bu (Gu Tianle) to increase his hold on power. Liu Bian is keen to challenge Lv Bu, but the Lady of the Sword Castle first tells him a story. (At the Luoyang court Cao Cao had tried to assassinate Dong Zhuo but was foiled at the last moment. He had escaped from the palace and was chased by the suspicious Lv Bu; he had managed to escape but was captured by a county official, Chen Gong [Zhang Zhaohui], who was so impressed by his bravery that he had left his post and ridden off with Cao Cao. Arriving at the home of Lv Boshe [Luo Jiaying], blood brother of Cao Cao’s father, Cao Song [Wang Zhihua], Cao Cao had mistakenly thought the family was about to betray him and had ended up slaughtering them, as well as Lv Boshe later on. Appalled, Chen Gong had abandoned Cao Cao. Finally Cao Cao had arrived at Sword Castle, where the Lady had given him the Commander Sword to carry the fate of the world, and Cao Cao had gone off to raise an army against Dong Zhuo.) While Cao Cao visits his father in Chenliu town to raise troops, the Lady of the Sword Castle gives Liu Bei, Guang Yu and Zhang Fei special weapons of their own to fight Dong Zhuo. They arrive at Hero Peak, where the alliance’s warlords, including Cao Cao, have all assembled. As the one with the largest army, Yuan Shao (Lv Liangwei) is elected leader. Amid all the speechifying, Liu Bei privately distrusts Cao Cao. Nevertheless, the alliance sets off to Hulao pass, where Dong Zhuo has sent Lv Bu with troops.

REVIEW

A costume action drama in which the scenery is often more interesting than the characters, Dynasty Warriors 真  三国无双 is a lumpy, somewhat retro outing that recalls heroic sagas of 1960s and 1970s Hong Kong cinema with its stiff leads and routine story. As the film’s credits repeatedly stress, it’s based on the well-known Japanese videogame of the same name, though there’s nothing here to distinguish it from yet another formulaic martial-arts costume drama. Any hopes that the videogame hook might pay off at the box office have been severely dashed: despite starring popular Mainland actor-singer Wang Kai 王凯 (The Devotion of Suspect X 嫌疑人X的献身, 2017; A Better Tomorrow 2018 英雄本色2018, 2018), the May Day holiday release has crashed with a mere RMB15 million.

Not to be confused with the identically named Mainland director (Broadcasting Girl 我的播音系女友, 2014; Fireworks 毕业的我们, 2019), Wang, 38, was cast in the film after playing the lecturer in Suspect X, which performed well in the Mainland. Dynasty was shot that same year, 2017, in China (for three months) and then New Zealand. Originally set for release in 2019, it’s taken almost four years to reach screens, despite not having a vast amount of VFX work compared with many costume dramas. In the meantime, Hong Kong director Zhou Xianyang 周显扬 [Roy Chow] has made two further features, The Great Detective 大侦探霍桑 (2019), which sank without trace, and boxing drama Knockout 我们永不言弃 (2020), released online. Some of the wide open New Zealand landscapes, and the country’s very different light, often give the film a fresh, almost pristine look in the widescreen photography by versatile Hong Kong d.p. Xie Zhongdao 谢忠道 [Kenny Tse] (Unbeatable 激战, 2013; Ip Man 3 叶问3, 2015; Paradox 杀破狼 贪狼, 2017); but the characters that move around in them are strictly generic.

Zhou has a very mixed record as a director, from his over-rated debut, Murderer 杀人犯 (2009), through the routine crime drama Nightfall 大追捕 (2012), to his only worthwhile movie to date, the Huang Feihong martial arts saga Rise of the Legend 黄飞鸿  英雄有梦 (2014). Once again his regular writer and creative producer 监制, wife Du Zhilang 杜致郎 [Christine To], must bear equal responsibility, with a poor screenplay – co-written with Wen Xiao 文萧 (Knockout) and Li Rui 李芮 – that’s built in large chunks and can’t decide who its main characters are, let alone give them any involving psychology.

Like the the videogame series (nine games in the past 20-odd years), the film is is set in the dying days of the Han dynasty prior to the so-called Three Kingdoms period, i.e. the Third Century AD, and uses real as well as fictional characters. Starting with a large battle (and hordes of CG soldiers) in which three knight-errants rescue a Han general, Dong Zhuo, from a rebel army and then don’t get any thanks for it, the film briefly establishes Dong Zhuo (played with cartoony relish by Hong Kong veteran Lin Xue 林雪 [Lam Suet]) as the usurping villain before switching the focus to a young palace guard, Cao Cao (Wang), who tries to assassinate him and then flees to join the rebel alliance, en route mistakenly massacring a whole family. Meanwhile, the three knight-errants are also on their way to join the alliance, and Dong Zhuo (hardly seen in the film’s second half) has instructed the mighty warrior Lv Bu to do battle with the alliance at Hulao pass.

The final hour is pretty much all fighting, either one-to-one or en masse, apart from a sudden romantic interlude between Lv Bu and a damsel in distress (the mythic Diaochan, played by Uyghur actress Gulnazar 古力娜扎, then better known on TV) which leads to a separate subplot. Ten minutes before the end, a coda set “several years later” and centred on wary frenemies Cao Cao and knight-errant leader Liu Bei, seems to be there only to set up a sequel in the subsequent Three Kingdoms period.

It’s a measure of the generally colourless playing by the name-packed cast that Hong Kong’s Gu Tianle 古天乐 [Louis Koo] makes a relatively major impression as crazed warrior Lv Bu. Among the younger leads, Wang, as so often, is imposingly handsome but lacks any personality as the young Cao Cao; Taiwan’s Yang Youning 杨祐宁 is more empathetic as Liu Bei but his role is under-written and never develops any meaningful relationship with the ruthlessly ambitious Cao Cao. Nanai dancer-turned-actor Han Geng 韩庚, who went on to star in Zhou’s next two films, makes little impression as one of the knight-errants, while Hong Kong veteran Liu Jialing 刘嘉玲 [Carina Lau] turns up to make one long speech and move the plot along.

Action by Hong Kong veteran Lin Di’an 林迪安 [Dion Lam] is okay but unmemorable. Ditto the music by Hong Kong-based Japanese American composer Hatano Yusuke 波多野裕介. The film’s Chinese title literally means “True: Three Kingdoms Matchless”.

CREDITS

Presented by Guangdong Sublime Media (CN), Beijing Lajin Film (CN), Horgos New Splendid Entertainment (CN), Er Dong Pictures (Beijing) (CN), Sun Entertainment Culture (HK). Produced by Guangdong Sublime Media (CN), Beijing Lajin Film (CN).

Script: Wen Xiao, Du Zhilang [Christine To], Li Rui. Photography: Xie Zhongdao [Kenny Tse]. Editing: Zhang Jiahui [Cheung Ka-fai]. Music: Hatano Yusuke. Art direction: Liu Jingping. Costume design: Wu Baoling [Bobo Ng] (general), Zhang Shuping [William Chang] (for Liu Jialing). Sound: Chen Weixiong. Action: Lin Di’an [Dion Lam]. Special effects: Zhao Guoqing. Visual effects: Huang Hongda (vfxNova). Aerial photography: Sam Peacocke, Ryan Haste, Giona Bridler.

Cast: Wang Kai (Cao Mengde/Cao Cao), Han Geng (Guan Yunchang/Guan Yu), Gu Tianle [Louis Koo] (Lv Bu), Yang Youning (Liu Xuande/Liu Bei), Gulnazar (Diaochan), Liu Jialing [Carina Lau] (Lady of the Sword Castle), Lv Liangwei [Ray Lui] (Yuan Shao, rebel alliance leader), Yuan Wenkang (Sun Jian), Jiang Haowen [Philip Keung] (Zhang Jiao, Yellow Turbans leader), Yang Haoyu (Gong Sun Zan), Lin Xue [Lam Suet] (Dong Zhuo), Zhang Jiansheng (Zhang Yide/Zhang Fei), Zhang Zhaohui [Eddie Cheung] (Chen Gong, county official), Luo Jiaying [Law Kar-ying] (Lv Boshe), Qin Pei [Paul Chun] (Situ Wang Yun, minister), Zhang Yiqian (Li Ru, Dong Zhuo’s strategist), E Jingwen (village woman), Cui Can (Liu Bian, young Han prince), Yang Zitong (empress), Wang Yikun (Liu Xie, replacement Han prince), Ning Xiaohua (government official), Yang Guang (Ding Yuan), Wang Zhihua (Cao Song, Cao Cao’s father), Wang Zixuan (Cao Ren), Song Hanhuan (Yuan Chen), Wang Xin (Sun Ce), Zhou Xianyang [Roy Chow] (general), Chen Zhihui (Wang Kuang), Li Kaixian [Brian Siswojo] (Yuan Shu), Fa Zhiyuan (Yu She), Zhang Bohao (Pan Feng).

Release: China, 1 May 2021; Hong Kong, 29 Apr 2021.